Doors opened a little after 8:00 pm, and my wife and I got a choice spot near the front of the stage. We relaxed while listening to the pre-show tape consisting mostly of '50s rockabilly tunes. Haven't been to a gig in a while, so I'd forgotten how annoying it can be when you're a non-smoker stuck next to people who smoke like chimneys. The guy next to me chain-smoked his way through a pack of Camels while we waited around. I guess it's nice to have $60 or whatever a week to throw at the cancer industry. Another NYC tradition is having waitress service to the crowd. Somehow we had foolishly chosen to stand in a spot where the designated waitress needed to pass for what seemed like twenty visits to a bunch of guys up in front. Anyway....

Paul strolled out about 9:20 pm, took a quick hop on the couch, had a few puffs on his cigar, and then got down to business. His outfit was another do-it-yourself creation: a checkered jacket, pants cut to shorts below the knee, with some piece of fabric taped around his lower left leg (this was removed later in the show), and a tuxedo shirt with flashy cufflinks.

He started with a jaunty version of High Time and never looked back. The show was very well-paced, with a minimum of between-song banter. This enabled him to get through 36 songs in roughly two hours. Some higlights to my mind were:

* The first switch to acoustic with Born For Me, Nobody, and Souvenirs, all of which got fine readings.

* Let The Bad Times Roll and Got You Down, two of my favorites from Stereo and songs he is obviously committed to on this tour, as they have shown up pretty consistently. I was hoping he'd give Don't Want Never a try, since the spare arrangement on the CD seemed tailor-made for the setup on this tour, and Paul obliged with a great performance.

* Closing with I Will Dare and Never Mind, two more favorites. The former was preceded by an exchange with some guy who'd been screaming for "Answering Machine," to which Paul replied that he was "too happy to play that.

Since these songs were all delivered in "naked" arrangements, everything depended on how comfortable Paul was with his guitar chops and his voice. On both counts he was probably at the top of his game tonight. If anything, his voice seemed to get stronger as the night went on. This was especially clear by the time he did Waiting For Somebody. As others have commented, it's pretty amazing how full a sound Paul can achieve on these rockers with just an electric guitar in hand; you almost forget there is no band up there. There is enough substance in even the simplest songs that you're not missing anything.

The audience was a mixed crowd and mostly amiable, singing along and keeping time. Irving Plaza is not a big place, so the atmosphere was pretty intimate and Paul had no trouble keeping everyone focused. There were the few obligatory jerks who felt compelled to scream for "Fuck School" and "Customer" at every break, but they were mostly on the margins. Paul's invitation to the couch drew about two dozen people onto the stage, which became a little tricky once he got back on his feet to finish the show, but he managed to keep from keeling over.

His set selection was interesting: one song apiece from All Shook Down, 14 Songs, and Eventually suggests that 1990-1996 period isn't speaking to him much at the moment. By contrast, Tim and Pleased To Meet Me were very well represented. I'm hoping he'll mix it up a little more at tomorrow's Bowery Ballroom tour finale, but I have no complaints about tonight's gig. He left us (and maybe himself) wanting more.

- RK from Teaneck, NJ

Irving Plaza - 8/27/02 - (good audience, Paul played for a solid 2hrs, his suit became a cut-off flannel and shorts as the night went on, definitely the most electric of his 3 nights)

-Brendan H.

I thought this show was pretty damn good, not quite as great as the Warsaw but I had a different perspective for it -- at the Warsaw, I was up the the front of the stage and then on the stage for the couch portion of the evening. Couldn't hack the corwd at Irving Plaza though so I went up into the balcony and watched from there. Interesting side note: You know how whenever you meet famous people in real life, they are always WAY shorter than you thought they would be? Literally, every famous person I've ever met has turned out to be so tiny! Well, I mananged to find the one actor who is taller in real life than you would expect him to be, Matt Dillon. I spent the night trying to peer over his shoulder to get a glimpse of Paul and not having too much luck. They did have a video monitor upstairs but it wasn't quite the same thing...but it was kind of fun looking at the crowd/Paul interaction from a different persective, pretty cool to look down and see 1000 folks singing their hearts out. I am really looking forward to getnig a copy of this show and hearing the lyrics to "Whatever Happened to Paul?" again...some interesting stuff going on there. Once again "Valentine" just blew me away, as did the blistering showender "Nevermind".

Kathy